*Official* Pakistan in England 2020

[weeman27bob]

I wonder if they'd prefer to bolster the lower order in that case. Maybe Curran in for Archer or Anderson. Not saying it's my preference, before anyone gets shirty, but based on what we've seen so far this summer.

Ridiculous call from you. Curran in for Archer or Anderson? You must be joking? I'm glad you're not the selector if you want to make decisions like that.

 

[wpdavid]

Ridiculous call from you. Curran in for Archer or Anderson? You must be joking? I'm glad you're not the selector if you want to make decisions like that.

 

[StephenZA]

They should drop Broad for Curran this first match... get him geared up for the other 2.

 

[Flem274*]

i think stokes' fitness is a red herring. a 4 man attack with some root filth is acceptable for a game.

burns
sibley
crawley
root
stokes
pope
buttler
bess
archer
broad
anderson

 

[Woodster]

I feel like we need that additional batsman in there for this Test opener, so Crawley comes in for me, so the top 7 is straightforward - Burns, Sibley, Crawley, Root, Stokes, Pope and Buttler. The next four places get more complex, I like a proper spinner in there but he played very little part in the last Test....Woakes, Broad and Anderson have made very strong cases, I wouldn’t be averse to Wood coming in for Archer. There may be some rain around so I expect bowlers to get enough rest during the Test, so a four-man bowling attack is sufficient to me and if we can squeeze a few overs out of Stokes and Root all the better.

My four bowlers are - Broad, Anderson, Wood and Bess, but I wouldn’t grumble at all if Woakes fits in there for one of those. I do want us to play that top 7 though.

 

[StephenZA]

I really think dropping Archer is foolish. Best 3 game breaking bowlers are Anderson, Broad and Archer and should play every match unless injury. Wood, Woakes and Curran should be playing based on injury or playing an extra bowler if Strokes is not able to bowl. Or if you drop your spinner, which is Stupid.

 

[Gremlin]

I've a sneaky feeling Anderson won't play.... but no evidence to support that whatsoever!

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Same team for England. Pakistan batting first on winning the toss.

 

[Pothas]

Guess it was the easy decision. They better not do it when Stokes is fully fit though.

 

[Howe_zat]

I don't really mind the team, it's just obviously not as good a team as when Stokes can bowl

Wood over Archer would be pretty crazy. Curran unlucky.

Both sides with the bowling allrounder at 7, Pakistan have the three 11s on top of that too.

 

[Howe_zat]

A lot of pressure on Azhar Ali who has made the probably correct decision and taken it on himself to bat for the team. There's a good chance he'll be in to bat early at #3 and his recent record outside of Asia is pants. Whoever wins the day will probably on how well he bats.

 

[Woodster]

I really think dropping Archer is foolish. Best 3 game breaking bowlers are Anderson, Broad and Archer and should play every match unless injury. Wood, Woakes and Curran should be playing based on injury or playing an extra bowler if Strokes is not able to bowl. Or if you drop your spinner, which is Stupid.

I certainly don’t see Archer as undroppable at this stage, I think he has some fantastic attributes to become a world class bowler and he will develop the more he plays so I understand why people want to see him included, if he is to become a different option to Broad and Anderson, and be that quick bowler we need to use him in shorter bursts and he needs to bowl quicker more consistently! I get that these pitches may not lend themselves to bowling fast and pace isn’t everything, but it’s his main asset, when he’s bowling mid 80’s he looks innocuous.

 

[Woodster]

Easy team selection option, avoids having to decide which bowler to leave out but in fairness probably covers more options, Ed Smith isn’t a stranger to making a difficult decision To be fair. Just worry we’re a batter light which could be more important than being a bowler light.

 

[Woodster]

At least as we’re going in with six batsman Jos Buttler got some runs last Test, so it doesn’t look quite as fragile.

 

[vcs]

Wow, brave team selection by both teams and courageous decision by Pakistan to bat first here

 

[trundler]

Shadab Khan at 7 is ill-advised

 

[Flem274*]

looks like we're getting babar azam today then

 

[StephenZA]

I certainly don’t see Archer as undroppable at this stage, I think he has some fantastic attributes to become a world class bowler and he will develop the more he plays so I understand why people want to see him included, if he is to become a different option to Broad and Anderson, and be that quick bowler we need to use him in shorter bursts and he needs to bowl quicker more consistently! I get that these pitches may not lend themselves to bowling fast and pace isn’t everything, but it’s his main asset, when he’s bowling mid 80’s he looks innocuous.

I don't look at Archer as undroppable as such, I just don't think Wood, Woakes, or Curran offer more right now. Woods is the closest competition but I think Archer has a much higher ceiling with more game changing potential. Woakes and Curran are more a threat to Andersons or Broads position, on balance, and not even close.

 

[wpdavid]

Wow, brave team selection by both teams and courageous decision by Pakistan to bat first here

They'd like their spinners to have 4th use of the pitch I suppose.
Because I don't really keep up with these things, I only just realised that they're playing the lad who took a hat-trick against Bangladesh when only 16 years old. When my son eventually surfaces, I look forward to telling him that there's actually a test cricketer who's younger than him now.

And apparently the combined age of two of their bowlers is less than Jimmy's age. I wonder who's going to tell Jimmy that.

 

[Beamer]

I like this move from Pakistan. It's exactly what I wanted us to do in the Old Trafford matches.

It's the positive option and if they get any half decent total England will be under pressure.